UPDATE 3 - At least 8 dead, 14 injured in explosion in Syria's Latakia

UPDATES DEATH TOLL; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least eight people were killed and 14 others injured on Saturday following an explosion in a four-story building in the Al-Raml Al-Janoubi neighborhood of Latakia, northwestern Syria.

“The bodies of two women and a man have been recovered from under the rubble of the collapsed residential building in Al-Raml Al-Janoubi neighborhood in Latakia, following the explosion caused by war remnants in a scrap shop beneath the building,” the Syrian civil defense said on X.

It added that this "raises the death toll to eight, including three women and a child, with three victims still unidentified, and 14 civilians injured, including four children."

The statement clarified that it was a preliminary toll as search and rescue operations continued to recover those still trapped under the rubble.

The explosion was caused by an individual attempting to dismantle war remnants inside a scrap shop within the building.